NASA Education Express Message — Aug. 24, 2017

Do you want to keep up with all the latest articles, activities and games the NASA Space Place website has to offer? Sign up to receive the NASA Space Place Gazette! This monthly e-newsletter for educators and parents has information on all of the latest and greatest offerings from the NASA Space Place website.

The SciJinks website is a joint effort of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA that puts fun and adventure into learning about weather, satellite meteorology and Earth science. To keep up with the latest articles, activities, and games that SciJinks has to offer, sign up to receive the SciJinks E-Newletter. Each month you will receive an email with links to fascinating science articles, fun weather facts and educational games.

Join the NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative at Texas State University for free 60-minute webinar to learn about the solar system and beyond. Participants will explore activities that bring art into the STEM classroom. The NASA STEAM activity, “Art and the Cosmic Connection,” also will be discussed. Online registration required.

Join the NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative at Texas State University for free 60-minute astrobiology webinar that presents intriguing questions about the universe and explores topics related to the search for life beyond our planet while using some of the same strategies that astrobiologists use. Children’s literature books also will be introduced. Online registration is required.

Join the NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative at Texas State University for free 60-minute webinar. Shooting stars, or meteors, are bits of interplanetary material falling through Earth’s atmosphere and heated by friction to glow. These objects are called meteoroids as they hurtle through space before they reach Earth’s atmosphere; they become meteors for the few seconds they streak across the sky and create glowing trails. Bits and pieces that reach the ground are called meteorites. Find out how you can borrow meteorite samples from NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Online registration is required.

The CCRI internship is a yearlong opportunity to work directly with NASA scientists and research teams on a NASA research project related to climate change. This opportunity will not conflict with the student’s course work and class schedule during the fall and spring. The internship is considered a part-time position that supports the graduate student’s major area of study.

This yearlong STEM engagement opportunity allows high school STEM educators to work directly with NASA scientists, to lead research teams, and to develop STEM curricula for their current classes. Educators participating in this opportunity will become associate researchers who integrate NASA education resources and content into their classrooms while improving STEM education within their communities.

Infiniscope invites you to apply to become an Infiniscope Education Advisory Board member for a renewable one-year term from 2017-2018. Board members will review Infiniscope-developed educational products and receive a stipend, training, collaborative space, and recognition on the Infiniscope website. Board members also will have opportunities to earn badges and attend group meet-ups at national conventions.

To prepare for an Earth-to-moon journey in 2018, online mascot Astro Charlie is making a trip around Earth. Mission X is challenging Fit Explorers to work together to perform activities that will move Astro Charlie the 66 million steps required to walk around Earth! That’s 25,000 miles, or 40,000 kilometers! Visit the website for full challenge details and to do your part to help reach the globe-trotting goal.

In 2018, Mission X is challenging Fit Explorers around the world to work together to perform activities that will move online mascot Astro Charlie the 478 million steps required to walk from Earth to the moon! That’s 238,857 miles, or 384,403 kilometers! Visit the website for full challenge details and to do your part to help reach the out-of-this-world goal.

Find out more about how our sun’s position in the sky changes due to Earth’s rotation, revolution and tilt. Learn from the experts — Dr. Alex Young and Dr. Nicki Viall explain these connections so students understand patterns within the Earth-sun relationship.

In this activity, participants create a picture of the sun. The pictures can then be examined with colored filters to simulate how specialized instruments enable scientists to capture images and view different features of the sun. Participants use the solar picture to model the difference between a partial and total solar eclipse.

If you didn’t see the 2017 solar eclipse, what did you miss? Join the NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative at Texas State University for a free 60-minute webinar to explore the science, views and videos of the eclipse that were recorded by NASA and citizen scientists across the U.S. NASA STEM solar classroom resources will be presented for your classroom use year-round. If you did see the event, be prepared to share your eclipse stories. Online registration is required.

For 40 years, NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft have been on an incredible journey that has taken them to the outer planets and beyond. Join Alan Cummings, a senior research scientist and Voyager team member since 1973, as he revisits the highlights of the last 40 years and speculates on what lies ahead for the intrepid Voyagers. Attend in person or view the Thursday evening lecture online.

Do you want to spark student interest in STEM-related careers and pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation? Have your students join NASA in preparing for a monumental journey of a lifetime — to Mars! “NASA’s Journey to Mars” is a short planetarium presentation that can be used in the educational domes of your school district, as well as local planetariums, to inspire interest in STEM. Visit the website to learn more, including how you can acquire the show for use in your area.

The U.S. Agency for International Development seeks proposals for Development Innovation Ventures grants. Development Innovation Ventures supports breakthrough solutions to the world’s most intractable development challenges by finding and testing bold ideas that could change millions of lives at a fraction of the usual cost. DIV welcomes applications from U.S. and non-U.S. organizations, individuals, and nonprofit and for-profit entities, provided their work is in a country where USAID operates.

NASA’s 2018 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge seeks innovations in the design, installation and sustainable operation of a large solar power system on Mars. Top teams present their concepts via a design review at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia or NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The winning team will receive NASA internship offers.

Browse through the collection of James Webb Space Telescope images and videos and see what inspires you. Create art! (Note: this is not limited to art you can hang on a wall.) Then, share it with NASA on social media with #JWSTArt, or email it to jwst@lists.nasa.gov. There’s no deadline for submissions.

Aurorasaurus is a citizen science project that gathers real-time data about aurora sightings and sends out notifications to users when the northern or southern lights are likely visible in their area. Registered users get location-based notifications and a real-time monitor of space weather activity. The project also allows users to help verify tweets and search for real sightings. Plus, the website features answers to science and aurora questions.

Find NASA science resources for your classroom. NASA Wavelength is a digital collection of Earth and space science resources for educators of all levels — from elementary to college, to out-of-school programs. http://nasawavelength.org/

Do you just want to receive weekly updates on NASA Education opportunities relating to science? Sign up for the NASA Education “Science WOW!” newsletter for science opportunities delivered to your inbox “Weekly on Wednesdays!” https://www.nasa.gov/education/sciencewow/

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